The new Dorling Kindersley book, Lego Harry Potter Characters Of the Magical World arrived at my house this morning to my great surprise.

Described as a visual reference guide to all the Lego minifigures in the world of Lego’s Harry Potter theme the book is full of useful and fascinating bits of information about the characters, figures and accessories that make up this popular Lego theme.

The book also comes with a free Harry Potter minifigure which is unique to the book – Harry in his Slug Club Christmas-party suit. It’s a nice addition for the completist fans out there but perhaps not quite exciting enough for casual fans to buy the book for.

What I did find particularly interesting about this figure was the way it was described. In the book the figure is referenced as being “… the 24th and final Harry Potter Minifigure”.

So I guess that puts any ideas about future Harry Potter Lego sets to rest!

Lego Harry Potter
Characters Of the Magical World

Characters Of the Magical World is 144 pages in length which is considerably smaller than the 208 pages in the Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia.

This is understandable given the sheer amount of characters, sets and minifigures available to draw from in the Star Wars Universe but still might be worth bearing in mind so you aren’t disappointed with this smaller volume.

Like the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia the book devotes one page to each “figure” released in the Lego Harry Potter theme, ordered by chronological appearance in the JK Rowling books – so the first section of the book shows all the minifigures that appeared in sets centered around the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone.

Characters often appear more than once as there were different versions of many of them and as this is a theme about Harry Potter there are numerous pages devoted to the different incarnations of the boy who lived.

Alongside each image is a reference to the set/sets they were featured in as well as the year of release and any accessories the figure came with. The book also mentions fascinating bits of information that only a true fan could retain.

I was interested to note that the Mad Eye Moody figure who is featured in set 4767 Harry and the Hungarian Horntail, had his peg-leg on the right side whereas in the movie his peg-leg is on the left. This is because the right side is the standard location for peg-legs in the Lego world!

Non-human “minifigures” are also included in the guide, such as the Sorting Hat, Knights, Trolls and even the Portrait of the Fat Lady.

Magic And Wonder

Harry Potter Slug Party Suit via Brickset

Characters Of the Magical World really is a wonderful book and I know my kids and I will spend hours pouring over the details in the coming weeks, months and even years.

I am grateful that Lego and DK saw fit to release the book before major interest in the Harry Potter theme drops off because it is a true gift for fans and fits in well with both the Harry Potter Building The Magical World visual guide and also the Lego Star Wars Character Encyclopedia.

Perhaps my lingering feeling when looking through the book is one of wistfulness.

Flipping through the pages I saw such wonderful characters, envisaged sets that were never made and felt sad at all that potential coming to an end. In a way I feel as if the theme only touched the tip of the iceberg and there were so many more opportunities for wonderful sets…

But I guess that is the gift of Lego. We have these characters in minifigure form now and can make our own dioramas and creations with them, keeping the world alive each time we create.

The Lego Harry Potter Characters Of the Magical World book is a must buy for fans of series and even casual fans will find items of interest inside.